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At Marathon, Security Wins

When Krista Powell boarded a ferry at the southern tip of Manhattan early Sunday to head to the starting line of her first New York City Marathon, she expected to spend some quiet moments taking in the city’s skyline. Then she looked to her left.

There in the New York Harbor next to her ferry was a Coast Guard boat. On its bow was what several marathoners described as a machine gun, manned by a uniformed man who looked ready to shoot.

“It was kind of shocking, but then I remembered what happened in Boston,” Powell said, recalling the two bombs that went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in April, killing three people and injuring more than 260. “To see a huge gun on the boat next to us, that wasn’t expected. It was kind of drastic, but, unfortunately, it’s just what has to be done after people destroy an event for other people.”

This is the modern American sporting event, desperately trying to find a way to make big crowds safe crowds without letting armed forces steal the show. It isn’t easy.

Ferries received armed escorts. A battalion of bomb-sniffing dogs roamed the course and the adjacent sidewalks, sniffing backpacks, bags and even baby carriages.

Runners were checked with metal detectors as they entered the starting area at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island.

For many miles of the five-borough course, blue police tape warned spectators to stay on the sidewalk, as if it were a 26.2-mile crime scene. Near the finish line, it was a near police state.

It didn’t mean that the winners weren’t celebrated, or that personal dreams were not fulfilled with many strides and a few grimaces. But can we expect people to be truly festive when they’re being watched?

Runners and spectators were conflicted: the extra security provided some peace of mind, but they said it’s a shame we’ve come to this.

Eliav Benjamin, a diplomat who lives in Washington, said, “It wasn’t a bother at all,” before letting out a little laugh. “But that’s only because I’m from Israel.”

Photo

Officer Kevin Belavsky and his bomb-sniffing dog, Ellis, at the New York City Marathon, the first since the Boston bombings.Credit
Robert Caplin for The New York Times

Is it a good or bad sign that the marathon, which not long ago was a grass-roots affair for a band of enthusiasts in Central Park, is being compared to Israel, where security measures are probably the strictest in the world? Good that the city is protecting the marathoners and spectators. Bad that something that used to be such a relaxed community gathering has to respect the possibility of violence ruining the day.

Dave Obelkevich, who has run every New York City Marathon since 1976 — a record streak — recalled how close the fans got to the runners in 1976, the first time the marathon branched out of Manhattan to touch all five boroughs.

Coming off the Queensboro Bridge, on First Avenue in Manhattan, fans had strayed so far into the street that it left only a narrow pathway for the marathoners. The runners had to form a single-file line.

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That was electrifying, Obelkevich said, because those fans gave the runners so much of an emotional boost. The next year, though, the spectators were shooed off the course, onto the sidewalks. On Sunday, fans seemed to have been shooed away from the finish line, too.

Spectators who wanted to watch the race’s final quarter mile in Central Park had to go through a security checkpoint. Those checks — or perhaps what happened near the finish in Boston this year — kept some spectators away, leaving stretches of empty spots in an area usually filled with raucous fans.

Salla Viitikko of Finland noticed. “I wish there were more people there at the finish,” she said. “It’s always nice to have people cheering loud for you at that final point.”

Some fans still went to the finish, those spots that were equivalent to where the bombs went off in Boston. They decided not to change the way they’d live their lives in this age of terrorism.

Still, Sunday’s marathon was a stark reminder that big sporting events can be targets. Air traffic is restricted over events like the Super Bowl. The Olympics resemble fortified military compounds, with razor wire and surveillance cameras wrapped tightly around the events seen on television. Something as mundane as a backpack is now a symbol of danger; marathon staffers on Sunday had to use a transparent version. Runners as usual were required to place their belongings in clear plastic bags.

Gone are the days of the New York City Marathon feeling like a laid-back gathering of like-minded runners. It’s something different when the course includes 1,500 police cameras capturing every move.

Did all of that make the race on Sunday less fun, or more fun, because runners felt more secure?

A quick glance at the runners approaching the finish line at 4 hours 9 minutes — the time the first bomb exploded at the Boston Marathon — was revealing.

The thump-thump-thump of a low-flying helicopter provided the background noise. A police dog standing next to the course barked loudly. The fans lined along the course — many fewer than in years past — applauded.